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Franklin Regional varsity cheerleaders returned to the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s National Competition for the first time in the past three seasons this year, and coaches Courtney Shovel and Nikki Ziringer liked the results.

“We set a pretty clear goal at the beginning of the season: qualify for nationals,” she said. “So once they qualified at the regional competition in December, everything else was icing on the cake.”

It turned out plenty sweet, as the squad finished in the top 20 in its division.

“We were rebuilding, had a coaching change, and were sort of starting from the ground up,” Shovel said. “So to make it to the semifinals was above and beyond what we expected for our first year back.”

The squad also performed admirably at the earlier statewide PIAA cheer competition, earning a tenth-place finish out of 36 qualifying teams.

Shovel said she is excited to see what the future holds.

“We’ll set bigger goals for next year and try to make it to the (UCA) finals,” she said.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

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